# The most famous people from the least-noticed countries **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 23, 2023, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986 "2023-06-23T09:58:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/101 "2023-06-26T13:44:36Z")
Nitpick: It’s Tanzania now, but when Freddie Mercury was born it was the Sultanate of Zanzibar. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/102 "2023-06-26T13:45:47Z")
Yes, it may have had a name change and a new constitution, but it’s still the same _country_. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/103 "2023-06-26T14:27:24Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > When was the last time you saw Bangladesh in the news? Bangladesh is the eighth largest country in the world by population, and is often in the news because of its repeated and disastrous floods. However I find that I don’t recognise the names of any famous people born in Bangladesh, except perhaps William Beveridge the founder of Britain’s NHS, and he doesn’t really count. I’m sure this is a shortcoming on my part. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/104 "2023-06-26T15:20:24Z")
Haing S. Ngor is probably the most famous Cambodian if you don’t count genocidal dictators. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/105 "2023-06-26T15:46:30Z")
Rapper/singer Niki Minaj is from **Trinidad and Tobago**. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/106 "2023-06-26T15:53:44Z")
Plus, Ava Max is American-born of Albanian immigrants. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/107 "2023-06-26T15:57:07Z")
[Muhammad Yunus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunus), as mentioned above, is probably the most famous Bangladeshi. He’s famous for pioneering microcredit (from Wikipedia, “the extension of very small loans (microloans) to impoverished borrowers who typically lack collateral, steady employment, or a verifiable credit history. It is designed to support entrepreneurship and alleviate poverty. Many recipients are illiterate, and therefore unable to complete paperwork required to get conventional loans. As of 2009 an estimated 74 million people held microloans that totaled US$38 billion. Grameen Bank [founded by him] reports that repayment success rates are between 95 and 98 percent.”) ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/108 "2023-06-26T16:04:21Z")
Other than [Tenzing Norgay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzing_Norgay), are any Nepalis well-known? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/109 "2023-06-26T16:21:02Z")
For Chile, the [Google Ngram Viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Isabel+Allende%2CPedro+Pascal%2CAugusto+Pinochet%2CSalvador+Allende%2CPablo+Neruda%2CBernardo+O%27Higgins&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=5) has Salvador Allende ahead of Pablo Neruda and Augusto Pinochet, with other famous Chileans I can think of well behind. Pedro Pascal is a bare blip there, but their data only goes up to 2019, which is before Pascal became really famous for _The Mandalorian_ (premiered November 2019) and _The Last of Us_ (January 2023). ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/110 "2023-06-26T16:34:46Z")
Are there any famous people to have come from Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Transnistria, Western Sahara, Northern Cyprus or Somalialand? I’m assuming there are zero famous Bir Tawalians. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/111 "2023-06-26T16:52:11Z")
George Michael was born in England but his father was from Patriki, which is now in Northern Cyprus. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/112 "2023-06-26T17:03:36Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin! I went to a live tennis match where Justine Henin advanced to the finals. I had a serious girl crush on her. I actually went to another match, because she was in the group of participants. Sadly, she was out in the first round. Ran into a buzzsaw named Serena. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/113 "2023-06-26T17:27:46Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Are there any famous people to have come from Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Transnistria, Western Sahara, Northern Cyprus or Somalialand? Novelist [Nadifa Mohamed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadifa_Mohamed) now lives in the UK, but she was born in Hargeisa, which is now in Somaliland. She’s not exactly a household name. I read one of her novels, _Black Mamba Boy_, a couple of years ago, but I still had to look up her name. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/114 "2023-06-27T00:59:00Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > [Muhammad Yunus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunus), as mentioned above, is probably the most famous Bangladeshi. My choice would be Duke Fakir, member of the Four Tops, whose father was born in Bangladesh, since I consider the Four Tops to be the greatest musical group ever. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/115 "2023-06-27T03:40:13Z")
Speaking of Belgium, you left out the most impactful Belgian of all time: Adolphe Sax. Pierre De Geyter composed the music for the “_Internationale_.” Unfortunately, he did not compose it on a saxophone. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/116 "2023-06-27T05:00:56Z")
I’d nominate Joan Armatrading as the most famous living Kittitian, The late Eusebio (1942-2014) is probably a Top-5 all-time soccer player. He was born and lived in Mozambique until he moved to Portugal to play for Benfica at age 18. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/117 "2023-06-27T05:26:45Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Father of science fiction Hugo Gernsback was from Luxembourg. > [Hugo Gernsback - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Gernsback) I was going to add that one. Another SF writer, albeit less famous, is Algis Budrys, who is from Lithuania. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/118 "2023-06-27T05:57:11Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Other than [Tenzing Norgay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzing_Norgay), are any Nepalis well-known? If you’re willing to go far back enough in history, Gautama Buddha is commonly considered to have been born in 623BC in Lumbini which is located nowadays in modern Nepal. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/119 "2023-06-27T06:38:08Z")
Well, color me surprised. I always thought that Buddha was from India. I guess what’s now Nepal might have been part of India back then. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2023, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986/120 "2023-06-27T08:34:29Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Father of science fiction Hugo Gernsback was from Luxembourg. Gernsback himself was born in Luxembourg and didn’t emigrate to the U.S. until he was 19 or 20. The only famous current person in entertainment from Luxembourg is Vicky Krieps. Wikipedia lists the following people as having some ancestors from Luxembourg: Chris Evert, Dennis Hastert, Loretta Young, and Alex Wagner (and no, she’s no relation). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-famous-people-from-the-least-noticed-countries/985986.md?page=7)